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Toho animated films

  • My Neighbor TotoroIn 1950s Japan, a university professor named Tatsuo Kusakabe moves his two daughters into an old house near a hospital. His wife Yasuko stays there to…
  • Tales from Earthsea (film)In 1985, Ursula K. Le Guin received a call from Hayao Miyazaki through the bookseller Iwanami Shoten. She turned him down because she had not seen his films…
  • Spirited AwayTen-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her parents Akio and Yūko travel to their new home. Akio takes a shortcut through a tunnel leading to what appears to be an…
  • Macross: Do You Remember Love?The film premiered in Japanese theaters on the 7th of July 1984. It was a reinterpretation of episodes two through twenty-seven of the Super Dimension…
  • The Cat ReturnsIn 1995, Studio Ghibli released a film titled Whisper of the Heart. That project introduced Baron, a cat figurine who came to life within a fantasy sequence.
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (film)In 1960, Isao Takahata prepared a potential adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter for Toei Animation. That project never came to fruition.
  • Princess MononokeHayao Miyazaki composed the preliminary ideas for what would become Princess Mononoke in 1980 after releasing his first film, The Castle of Cagliostro.
  • Only Yesterday (1991 film)Hotaru Okamoto published the manga Omoide Poro Poro in 1982, establishing a quiet story about a young girl named Taeko. Yuko Tone drew the illustrations that…
  • Pom PokoIn the Tama Hills, a group of tanuki drummed their bellies to create a sound like Pom Poko. This rhythm came from a 1919 poem by Ujō Noguchi that became a…
  • PonyoA five-year-old boy named Sōsuke cuts his finger while shattering a glass jar on the shore of a small fishing town. A goldfish-like creature named Brunhilde…
  • When Marnie Was There (film)Anna Sasaki stands alone in the Kushiro wetlands of Hokkaido. Her asthma attack at school had sent her to this rural seaside town between Kushiro and Nemuro.
  • Whisper of the HeartYoshifumi Kondō died in 1998, three years after directing Whisper of the Heart. This film stands as his sole completed work as a director before his passing.
  • ArriettyOn the 16th of December 2009, Studio Ghibli announced the film Karigurashi no Arrietty for release in 2010. This announcement marked the feature directorial…
  • The Wind RisesHayao Miyazaki began conceiving the story of The Wind Rises in 2008, marking his first feature film since Ponyo. He published a manga series based on this…
  • Akira (1988 film)Katsuhiro Otomo agreed to adapt his manga into an animated film only after securing a guarantee of total creative control.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen TrainTanjiro Kamado steps onto the Mugen Train with his sister Nezuko and friends Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira. They board to assist Flame Hashira…
  • Mary and the Witch's FlowerIn 1971, Mary Stewart published a children's book titled The Little Broomstick. A few months after its release, Walt Disney Productions acquired the film…
  • Porco RossoHayao Miyazaki began work on Porco Rosso in 1989 with a manga titled Hikōtei Jidai. The project started as a planned short film for Japan Airlines to show…
  • The Boy and the HeronHayao Miyazaki stood before a press conference in Tokyo on the 14th of September 2013 and declared his retirement from feature animation.
  • The Red TurtleIn 2008, Vincent Maraval walked into the Studio Ghibli offices in Tokyo. He was a co-founder of Wild Bunch, a French production company seeking new projects.
  • Pokémon: The First MovieIn a laboratory on New Island, a cloned Pokémon named Mewtwo gains sentience and immediately questions his right to exist.
  • Your NameMakoto Shinkai stood in the fishing village of Yuriage on the 14th of July 2011. The ground beneath his feet still trembled from the massive earthquake that…
  • Howl's Moving Castle (film)Studio Ghibli announced the production of two films in September 2001. The second project was an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Howl's Moving Castle.
  • Royal Space Force: The Wings of HonnêamiseIn September 1984, Hiroyuki Yamaga and Toshio Okada stood before Shigeru Watanabe of Bandai to pitch a project that would become Royal Space Force.